Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Performance Evaluation

While Obama and the Democrats want to make this election about race, there are more important things to discuss right now. One of those things is how their performance is being measured.

Right now, we find that polls are not favoring their job performances on real issues that affect Americans. For example, the latest USA Today/Gallup poll shows than attitudes on the war in Afghanistan have changed.

Support for Obama's management of the war fell to 36%, down from 48% in a February poll. Now, a record 43% also say it was a mistake to go to war there after the terrorist attacks in 2001.

It was not a mistake to roust the Taliban. The mistake was thinking that we could convert the masses to a civilized century, where culture did not include the beating and maiming of women. Unless we get a plan to convert the people's brutal thought processes to a more peaceful tone, we are just spinning our wheels now.

Until Pakistan's feet are held to the fire (for not effectively policing the region that harbors the supply line of weapons and fighters), this is going to be a great lesson that the Soviets learned the hard way.

The decline in support contributed to the lowest approval ratings of Obama's presidency. Amid a lengthy recession, more Americans support his handling of the economy (39%) than the war.

It's not surprising that the report would seek to spin this a little. We cannot help but notice that this is a desperate attempt, if there ever was one. Three whole percentage points when they are this low is not that much of a gap.

The point is simple. If either these numbers listed in this post were significantly higher, it would indicate that Obama and the Democrats were doing a fine job with everything charged to their care. If there was less unemployment, less casualties in Afghanistan, a better strategy for winning it, and a better track record on fiscal responsibility, we would not be having this conversation and might even be discussing things like NFL training camps.

I have always maintained that polls are just polls. They have no real significance until an election is held. But we can also see trends as useful indicators of the real world and what is going on in it. And what we see in the latest rounds is a country on the decline at an alarming rate.

Certainly and surely, it will continue on that downward path if we do not effect a change in November. Do not let up your voices on the important matters. Do not allow those who ruin what is ours, to dictate the narrative in these coming days, because we all know they will become even more desperate.....as they sink even lower.

//I have a tendency to not take polls too seriously either but when they are this low, it's significant. //

But this still does very little to assign a value to the overall malaise the country feels right now. I believe they are skewing these things to make them look like it's not as bad as the numbers are showing. These numbers might be highballed to minimize damage.

The numbers could definitely be highballed ..what's to stop them? This administration is probably the most powerful America's ever seen, with a media completely in their bag hiding the truth, obfuscating facts, etc. We'd practically be living in E Germany by now if we didn't have FOX and Conservative talkshow hosts telling the other side!

Polls can be manipulated, which here solidifies Sunsett's point: if they can be manipulated and these are the best numbers they could come up with even through nefarious actions, it makes a very loud statement.

I do not put much stock in polls because of the very fact that they can be controled by the pollster in any way they see fit, still, those numbers shown in this poll are very bad. IF a conservative or republican were in control right now and they had those numbers, the media would be drooling over the opportunity to trash the administration.

About Me

I am a political independent that belongs to no political party. I base my political ideology solely on principle, and not by daily talking points.
I am a non-denominational Christian that belongs to no church. I have incorporated many different beliefs into my personal theology and rely on no one entity to influence my personal beliefs.
Above all, I am a free thinker and value the right and ability to express my thoughts, without fear and regret.

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